Shepard tragedy, 10 years removed

Onto this shifting terrain steps “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later,’’ an epilogue to 2000’s “The Laramie Project’’ that is now receiving a world premiere production at Cutler Majestic Theatre under the auspices of ArtsEmerson. “The Laramie Project’’ is running in repertory with “Ten Years Later’’ at the Cutler Majestic.

“Ten Years Later’’ is not as compelling as “The Laramie Project.’’ There’s almost no way it could be. There is a raw immediacy to “Laramie Project,’’ an exploration of the horrific 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, that cannot be replicated by the epilogue, which is structured as an inquiry into the aftermath of the murder.

But “Ten Years Later’’ is absorbing and important on its own terms. It asks tough questions about our culture’s troubling willingness to distort the past to fit the needs — emotional, psychological, parochial, political — of the present. The fact that Robert Orchard, Emerson College’s executive director of the arts, would make this challenging work the centerpiece of ArtsEmerson’s kickoff is a promising signal that the organization could be a force for serious and provocative theater in Boston.

Both “The Laramie Project’’ and “Ten Years Later’’ feature committed performances by eight skilled and versatile members of the Tectonic Theater Project — Mark Berger, Scott Barrow, Jeremy Bobb, Mercedes Herrero, Greg Pierotti, Amy Resnick, Christina Rouner, and Kelli Simpkins — who, among them, play nearly 80 different characters.

When Shepard was savagely beaten to death in 1998 by two young men in Laramie, Wyo., it shocked the national conscience and spurred calls for hate-crimes legislation. It underscored the possible consequences of anti-gay rhetoric, and seemed to mark a turning point in the fight for gay rights.